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| Zaha Hadid Retrospective |
ZAHA HADID RETROSPECTIVE
27 OCT 2009 – 01 MARCH 2010
PALAZZO DELLA RAGIONE
PADUA, ITALY
A major retrospective on the works of Zaha Hadid Architects will take place within the
salone of Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy in October. The exhibition will examine the practice’s
continued experimentation and research into digital design and construction methods at the cutting
edge of the industry.
The salone of Palazzo della Ragione (constructed 1172-1219) is considered one of the most notable
monuments in Padua.
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Its medieval roof remains amongst the largest in Europe unsupported by
columns, whilst the frescoes that adorn the interior walls date from 1425. As with each of her projects,
Hadid has organized this exhibition as a direct response to its environment within the salone,
articulating the inherent contextual relationships of her work.
The historic qualities of the space presented an exacting design challenge for Hadid. The exhibition
design respects these spatial and contextual characteristics whilst also intervening in the unique
manner of Hadid’s digital, liquid fluidity. Conceived as an interior urban landscape, the exhibition
should be considered as a large scale installation; a pixilated field defined by algorithmic formulae that
introduce complexity and generate an interior urban condition. Space has been organized as a single
fluid landscape with connecting individual fragments and clusters.
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The works in the exhibition are classified not by the usual categories of typology or chronology, but by
the design theme and agenda that generated them. In this way, the widest variety of Hadid’s projects,
whether a piece of furniture or a vast infrastructure project, are arranged within the same zone,
irrespective of their function or scale. These groupings include:
1. Lines/Bundles/Networks
2. Waves/Shells/Cocoons
3. Aggregations/Clusters/Jigsaws
4. Fields
5. Landscape & Topography
6. Zaha Hadid Architects. A sixth island cluster is dedicated to Zaha Hadid Architects as a
practice, its organization and its research. Addressing the demand for an increased level of
articulated complexity, the practice has evolved its experimentation by means of retooling its
research methods on the basis of parametric design systems. Works exhibited here
demonstrate the practice’s continued development of this architectural paradigm. |
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Product designs include some of Hadid’s most notable pieces and examine the diversity of her work
including Mesa Table for Vitra, Genesy Lamp for Artemide, Aqua Table for Established & Sons,
Melissa Shoes, sofas for Sawaya & Moroni and B&B Italia, and Louis Vuitton’s Icone bag. Many of
these pieces are now exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide and have become collectors’
pieces alongside design classics from previous centuries.
To coincide with the exhibition, Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a 20 metre long wooden table
with seating for Cavour Square in Padua.
In continuing the research on innovative materials and challenging building techniques a traditional
construction material has been completely reinvented. The object is designed to challenge the usual
perception of wood as a sheet or stick material, rediscovering the sculptural potential of the wooden
mass. A large block of wood is carved out by dynamic forces to create an undulating structure,
installed as a large scale piece of urban furniture which will attract and surprise the pedestrian flow
around it. Seating areas as well as displays are provided within the sculpture. |
LAUNCH OF TAVOLO DELL’ARCHITETTURA, PADUA
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| The top undulating surface is panelized to generate a series of elements that can display architectural
projects, as it will be used to showcase the winners of the 2009 Barbara Cappochin Biennale. The
digital three-dimensional file of the design by Zaha Hadid Architects has been engineered and created
by the main contractor, Ar.Te, which printed the table, sculpting out the large wooden structure. The piece is subdivided into modules, allowing it to be transported to several locations worldwide after the
2009 Biennale. |
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ABOUT ZAHA HADID
Zaha Hadid was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2004 and is widely regarded as an innovative architect
who constantly tests the boundaries of architecture, urbanism and design. An aspect of Hadid’s vision
is her interest in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape, and geology.
Currently Zaha Hadid architects are working on a multitude of projects around the world including the
MAXXI: National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, that will be completed later this year. Zaha
Hadid’s work of the past 30 years was the subject of a critically-acclaimed retrospective exhibition at
New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2006 and was showcased in 2007 at the Design
Museum in London. |
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